One shots: DOS recursives
by Dinner
Summary: One shots I wrote for Dreaming of Sunshine.
1. Chapter 1

**The Girl Who Dreamed Of Flowers**

**Fact: In Japan, the cherry tree symbolises the fragility and beauty of life… and how tragically short it can be.**

**Another Fact: Ino never thought Cherry blossoms suited Shikako**

Sai was painting a picture. Black on white. A girl standing on a hill. A cherry tree losing petals to the wind upon a solitary stony hill. A gravestone unmarked.

"What will you do with it?" I sat next to him. My braid felt heavy as the wind tugged at it, scattering deep pink petals across the grass.

"I'll give it to her parents. It might… comfort them to know someone grieved for her?"

I nodded. Ino's grave, she didn't actually lie there. It was considered too dangerous to keep the dead. Ino was on her way back to Konoha. I would know, I had been the one to seal her body into a scroll.

It was the last time I touched her. She had still been warm to the touch.

"I think they'll appreciate it, yes."

Mid-way through a brushstroke Sai looked up at me. "I read that people cry if someone they loved died. You cried for her. Does that mean you loved her?"

"Love doesn't end when someone dies, Sai."

* * *

Shortly after, Sasuke and I were sent from the border to a smaller stronghold, nine miles east. Our mission was to check up on the barrier seals in place there - a quick two day mission and then back to the front lines.

That night I got a messenger hawk. It screeched sharply as I retrieved the small scroll tied to it's leg. It was a standard missive from the Jounin Commander. Familiar handwriting - neat and slanted. Dad's name at the bottom.

"Another mission?" Sasuke asked, he was sharpening his kunai with a stone. His hair had grown longer and now locks of it fell forward to obscure his face.

I let myself fall onto the bedroll I had claimed. "It's just a letter from dad."

Sasuke said nothing, he just kept sharpening the edge. A clear invitation for me to elaborate.

"He says Shikamaru arrived home safely. And Chouji is already back up. He sends his condolences for... " I couldn't say it.

"Ino." Sasuke put down the stone and held up his kunai, looking at it with his Sharingan.

"Yeah… He asks if we're ok?" I paused, struggling. I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

We were fine. We had been built and trained for this. Battle made my heart rush like nothing else. Coming up with counters to the many strategies we faced kept me from boredom.

But Dad wasn't asking about that.

Because as much as I'd like to say I was fine... I wasn't.

I felt like I was drowning; like the sun was cold; like the earth should swallow me whole and drag me further down until fire consumed me. The black felt inviting - a lure with the promise of numbness.

I closed my eyes. "Are we ok?"

"We're fine." Sasuke answered. He sounded convincing. Confident. It almost felt like it was true. But Sasuke couldn't lie, not to me.

"I'll write him back tomorrow." I mumbled and pulled my blanket over myself, turning my back to Sasuke and letting myself slowly fall asleep.

* * *

The sound of a bell clanging woke me up. Sasuke's bed was already empty. I was still wearing yesterday's mission-clothes and it felt like I was choking on the air.

I walked out of our tent in a nightmare-haze as the bell sounded again. Except, it wasn't a bell. It was the barrier we had erected after we came here.

I flushed my system with chakra, instantly I felt more awake - not 100% but almost there. The choking weight of the air, filled with malicious chakra, subsided as I focused.

The barrier was supposed to be invisible to the naked eye, but it glowed pink now. That could only mean one thing - someone was trying to force their way through it.

Another clang, a low rumbling sound that reverberated through my bones. The sky glowed pink until it didn't.

The barrier was down.

Everyone was running now, gone to their stations. But Sasuke and I hadn't been assigned a station yet. There was a spike of chakra and with a thunderous crack the western watchtower exploded into flame.

It just went whumph - a sudden pillar of fire.

I reached out with my chakra sense, trying to see if… There was someone still in there. No wait, it was faint, but there was two someones still in there.

Chaos took over the camp along with the first wave of enemy soldiers, and I dodged a rain of kunai as I made my way to the watchtower.

It was a bold move of the Raikage to actually attack our camp. We were more than a kilometre deep into the land of Fire. Which meant that the border had been breached too. Wasn't Hinata's team based there? I know Sai was.

The wood of the watchtower was feeding the flames, and its heat cracked my lips and made my skin feel tight. I opened my hammerspace and retrieved a stone jar with a seal inscribed on the bottom - the Kanji for fire. I placed it on the ground.

"Sealing method - fire vault!"

The stone jar flashed gold and the fire twister, almost like a living thing, slithered down the poles, over the ground and into the jar. I tucked the jar back into hammerspace.

From the watchtower two people emerged through what used to be the roof. Shinji and Houga, both chuunin. "Thanks for that Nara-san."

I nodded back at them. "Any idea what's going on?"

Houga shook his head. "One moment everything's fine. The next - the barrier seal starts getting attacked by these purple orbs. Only took two of them to bring it down… and then next we know we're trapped in flames."

"Purple orbs?" I repeated, the blood draining from my face. "You mean, purple chakra orbs?"

"Yeah, they were huge." Shinji added. "Easily the size of a house."

"Bijuu bomb. We're being attacked by a jinchuuriki." I tried to calm myself down. But... we were just a small camp, thirty shinobi strong. A full fledged Jinchuuriki was an army killer. "We need to evacuate. I don't know if-"

I was cut off, as from beneath us fire erupted like a geyser. I jumped away just in time - I only got singed. Shinji's chakra… Shinji's chakra was gone.

I followed the chakra back to its user. Sixty feet away at my four o'clock, behind a tree. I dashed forward, my chakra going into the Gelel-stone and pulling me into shadow. I threw on a flimsy layer of chakra over my for, to make it still look like me and I was ready. I traveled fast, evading two spouts of fire from whoever it was that was attacking us.

She seemed surprised when she couldn't block my right handed strike. I used my shadows to place a touch blast on each of her limbs and her torso in the short taijutsu bout that followed, then I backflipped out of range as she made a lunge for my stomach.

She exploded as my feet touched the ground. As did the tree. And the ground she stood on. It was perhaps a bit much.

I reformed, becoming tangible once more. With the weight of mortality, came the keen sense that Sasuke was fighting.

I raced past Houga. "Spread the message, we need to retreat!"

* * *

Sasuke was further out - isolated with four others. His chakra was depleting quickly. By the time I got there, he was the only one left alive. And just a small cut on his left arm to show he had fought.

"You're late."

"You seemed to handle it well enough." I shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly. Still, this was not the time for banter. "We need to retreat. They've got a Jinchuuriki with them."

Sasuke nodded. "Like Naruto?" He said it as if that made it ok.

"Yes. Sort of. Only, Naruto can't control it. Whoever they've got with them, their chakra is massive. And they can control it - they can use the beasts chakra to make Bijuu bombs."

I had to make him understand. This wasn't like with the Sanbi. This wasn't like a friendly spar with Naruto. This was like Kurama hulking over Konoha - suffocating and evil. There would be no hiding from death if we faced it.

"We can't retreat. We need to stand our ground." Sasuke said slowly.

"You don't understand Sasuke. This is not something we can face head-on."

Sasuke's eyes turned red.

I shook my head. "Not even with your sharingan." Didn't he understand the utter hopelessness of our situation?

"I do. You're scared. But we have orders Shikako." He closed the distance between us. "We need to defend this outpost or Cloud will overtake this entire district of the land of fire."

His voice was steady. Almost against my will, I felt myself calming as my lungs struggled in the tainted air…

"We're all that's standing between them and thousands of civilians. We will not fall."

I nodded - tense more than firm. I couldn't- but he was right. I couldn't let the memory of fear, of helplessness, keep me from my duty. I took a breath and allowed everything in, my weakness had become my strength. I wasn't a newborn anymore. I wasn't helpless.

"They're hanging back. About 1500 feet. They used a ranged Bijuu Bomb. From what I can sense they only sent in a tenth of their force. They're a hundred strong- It won't be easy."

"Nothing worth fighting for ever is. Right?" Sasuke set the pace as we started running toward the camp to gather more people. "They used two bijuu bombs to take down the barrier. That means their jinchuuriki used up a lot of chakra. They're probably weaker now for that. This is our chance."

"We're outnumbered - a hundred to twenty-four."

But then everything stilled. Something heavy was born into the world, and I stopped dead in my tracks. A Massive amount of chakra, another- "Bijuu bomb!"

There was no barrier stopping it this time.

Sasuke raised a stone wall to protect us, almost at the same time I slammed the strongest seal against it I could. We still felt a tidal wave of heat and wind slam into us.

"Ninety to two," was all I could say after. The bomb had swallowed the camp whole and left nothing behind but ash and empty space.

It was a smaller space - but no less devastating than what I had seen that before. Last time I had begged for help. This time, I would make them beg for help too.

The emptiness of despair was rapidly filling with something hot and familiar. I felt it. I felt myself overflowing with rage. 'I'll kill them - I'll kill them - I'll kill them'. It looped through my head over and over and over-

Sasuke placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We need to inform Konoha. This… We can't take on an army with just the two of us. We should retreat now. You were right."

Maybe I had been… but he had been right too. If we didn't stand firm here…This win would embolden them.

Anger cooled to obsidian. Solid, impenetrable, calculating cold. A Nara's motivation.

"I agree. You go back to Konoha." He looked at me strangely, wanting to argue. I silenced him with a finger to his lips. "You're faster than I am. With my chakra sense I will be able to keep track of their group at a much safer distance than you could. When you come back, we'll know where they are. Where they all are."

Sasuke's face betrayed the battle going on in his head. "Don't do anything foolish." he said after too long a pause.

I hugged him tightly. For a brief moment the rage made room for other feelings- "I'll make sure no one catches me. Now go."

And gone he was. His chakra quickly going beyond my senses.

I turned. Poured more of my emergency reserves of chakra into the gelel stone and made my way back to the Jinchuuriki and their small army.

They were already making their way further west. Which meant they were heading for the border again.

Which meant they were retreating. But why?

Unless, they weren't. Unless… they were going to attack the border next. That meant they had another way of crossing the border. It must have been a way that got them around the barriers, around the Hyuuga and their Byakugan, around the bugs and noses of the Inuzuka and the Aburame...

If I had been corporeal I would've frowned in contemplation.

* * *

It was hours later before I got close enough. There were a lot of them.

Only one of me.

But if the Jinchuuriki could use Bijuu Bombs. I could use my own.

The sun was low, and the shadows long. And I made my way into their midst without arousing suspicion. I spread out, as thin as I dared. Slowly, so slowly, I focused and group by group marked all of them on the back of their neck with a touch blast - each strong enough to level the Hokage's Office.

Then I retreated. Only one person was left.

I remade myself, corporeal, flesh and blood.

Right in front of Yugito Nii. Jinchuuriki to the two tailed bijuu. I punched her in the nose, she almost ducked in time, but as my fist connected, flesh to flesh, the final touch blast settled.

I had lied when I told Sasuke he was faster.

Because I was gone from her sight almost instantly.

In my shadow form, I was far enough away in two seconds to fully see their entire regiment go out in a bang.

It almost looked like art.

* * *

It was almost a full week later and I was stood outside of the Hokage's office.

I had been standing there for almost an hour before the door opened. Dad walked out, his face grim. He spared me a small smile and laid his hand on my shoulder.

I flashed him a grateful smile, before my ears caught the tap of a cane going out the ANBU only entrance. I felt a chill. Tsunade was watching me with a thoughtful expression. Her desk was cleared, and there was a shadow behind her storm grey eyes.

I walked in.

"Shikako Nara." she leaned back into her chair.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama."

She stood up, her eyes locking with my own. "Don't apologize. Never apologize for doing what must be done."

I swallowed.

"I have informed the Daimyo that I have officially declared war. Konoha will no longer just be reacting to the Raikage's show of force. Instead, I have a mission for you. You showed more than once your... talent for destruction. I want you, with a small team to back you up, to infiltrate Kumogakure. Kill the Raikage and take down most of his village with him."

My eyes widened. I know they did. I couldn't believe what the Hokage was saying. The things that had happened were bad enough, even when we weren't officially fighting in a war.

What terrors would be unleashed upon the world now that had changed?

And a slow creeping terror slipped to the front of my mind.

Would that terror… be me?

I remembered Ino, her blonde hair splayed out on the floor, a lightning burn through her chest. What… what would she think of me?

Her image shifted, becoming alive, smiling... loving.

Love beyond death. Love enduring.

Love from a happier time.

I could almost hear the words she'd mumbled against my shoulder that night after we took down a team of hunter-nin… "I was wrong… you didn't blossom into a Camelia, or a Snapdragon." Her fingers brushed feather light against a flower she'd tucked into my braid. "This suits you so much better."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at my silence. I cleared my throat nervously. "Tsunade-sama, could I have another mask?"

"Oh?"

"For this mission, for this fight, please may I be Nerium?" With a small push of chakra I henge'd a mask in front of my face. Different to my usual Bat.

"A flower?"

"To honor a friend."

**One more fact: Nerium Oleander, also known as the Sweet Scented Killer.**


	2. Chapter 2

I was never one to want to

Put my trust in someone else completely

And I was always one to want to up and run

When someone said they needed me

But you...

You could be the one

Yeah, you could be the one

Carly Rae Jepsen

* * *

**The long way home**

The Uchiha district has high walls, it keeps its past hidden in empty houses and narrow streets. Winds howl here in a high pitch that makes the trees shiver and cry with red falling leafs. Under my feet fallen twigs snap almost melodically. Autumn had come and with it nature seemed to match the setting perfectly. It was as if the district knew that I was there. That I could've done something if I had been motivated enough to do so. A guilt trip on every corner.

I walked the narrow streets, my face as haunted as the district itself, and if I took the long way around it was because some places I had seen over and over and over. And If I stared at a window a moment too long it was penance. But I was here to talk to the last Uchiha of Konoha. The rest was just scars from memories not my own.

Sasuke lived in the same place as he had been born. It was the only home in a cemetery of houses.

I hesitated before knocking his door. Would I tell him about everything today? The words were already on my lips, it'd be easy. 'I knew they would die, and did nothing.' The door snapped open as my dark doubts closed off. Heavy scented air nearly knocked me out.

"We have a mission?"

I nodded "We're supposed to turn in tomorrow morning." Sasuke looked hot, as in warm, like he had been in the sauna all morning. His hair damp and tucked behind his ears, fingers covered in white spots that shimmered in the light.

"Mom sent me with soup" I held up my hands and a bowl softly fell out of hammerspace landing in my hands. It was still warm. "She said you were probably to busy to think of eating?"

I made it obvious I was giving him a glance over.

He just raised his shoulders.

Sasuke closed the door behind me as I got in. The living room was a mess, there were boxes of incense and rolls of paper everywhere. In front of the couch a cast iron cauldron with warm wax steadily fumed the entire room. "Want me to put it in the kitchen?"

Sasuke looked at the pile of things where his table used to be. It was mostly candles and paint now. "Thanks." He answered. "Sorry for the mess."

I walked to the kitchen, Sasuke a step behind me, the kitchen was a much better representation of what Sasuke's place usually looked like. Neat and clean. I put the ceramic bowl on the stove. "It's ok. Reminds me of my room when TenTen and I started to work on our seals. But what are you doing with all of this… stuff?"

Sasuke used two hands to go through his hair, shaking it loose. Strands of it fell in front of his face, I never quite understood why he liked that style so much, it wasn't comfortable. I suspected he thought it looked cool, or maybe because it framed his face so that it was nigh impossible to miss his eyes, which seemed more likely, the Sharingan was one of Sasuke's more useful tools after all. "My mom taught me how to make these."

He said it so softly, timidly. It was almost like we were seven years back, and Sasuke was half his age. "And I missed the anniversary because of… well you know."

I did know. Red team had been going on missions a lot, and Sasuke and I took a lot of missions to cover that up too. It looked like a lot of work for one person. "If you'd like." I offered "You could teach me, so I can help."

Sasuke gave me a thankful nod and started to explain how he went about making floating lanterns. That afternoon we made a hundred and fifty eight of them, ate soup and talked about a lot of things, but we didn't mention the people we made these for.

Darkness came early and swallowed the world whole. It was fitting, the lights would seem brighter under a dark sky. We walked to the Naka shrine, a holy place for the Uchiha. "There is a river that flows from here all the way to the sea. The river made from Sasunoõ's tears,"

The Naka shrine was pristine, beautiful in a way all old monuments were, but it felt like ghosts kept a watchful eye on us. If I was less paranoid I'd have suspected them of knowing that I knew- but I hadn't told anyone, ever.

Warm red wooden beams welcome us back to the holy site. We walked under the gate and I realized that the last time I was here I had been so occupied with sensei's predicament, I hadn't taken it all in. There was a wooden sign on the gate, upholding the Uchiha crest. Nine feet high spires guided a path to the place of worship. Each spire engraved with words like "Endure", "Accept" and "Unity".

Sasuke slowed his pace. "There's fifty of five on each side of this path." he let his hand rest on one, tracing the roughly carved words, he did it with such an ease it was as if he had done it a thousand times. "The fifty pillars of shinobi virtues."

I wasn't sure if Sasuke said it in disdain or if he saw the irony in it too, or maybe he meant it in an entirely different way. But the way he said it made the hairs on my arms stand up. A lot of good these virtues had done the Uchiha, right?

I read the one opposite of me. "Detachment." And wasn't that exactly the problem? Train children to detach themselves from the world around them, turn them into puppets controlled by scarred people looking to harm the ones that had harmed them, a never ending cycle that would repeat and repeat as the children would grow up to become the scarred puppeteers themselves.

"You want to do the ceremony here?" I asked suddenly unsure if this was actually a holy place or if it was brainwash HQ. No wonder Itachi did what he did if this was what he was taught and believed in.

Sasuke shook his head, "No, we're going inside, the river is mostly underground."

The shrine itself was mostly underground. There was the Tablet chamber, with the tablet that could activate the Mangekyou, but Sasuke placed his hand on the wall and it opened to reveal a huge hall, big enough to easily fit a small house. How had we not noticed earlier? It was quite dark, but a LED-seal from hammerspace quickly found its way in my hand.

Also, how cool was it that Sasuke had his very own hidden hide-out! There were so many seals I could create and test here without anyone ever being the wiser of it.

The hall had three open rooms with embroidered carpets, depicting all kinds of events; I'm sure I saw one with a ninja standing on the head of the Kyuubi!

We walked to a fourth chamber which led to a steep downwards corridor. Rough cut out stone floors, but obviously flattened by the many people that had walked over it, so smooth. There were unlit torches hanging on the walls. The deeper we went the more moss there was in the crevices. How deep did this place go? We had been walking a good six minutes before I started to hear the sloshing sounds of water.

There was a sharp turn and suddenly the river was so loud I barely heard Sasuke. How was Sasuke going to release these tiny boats on this wild water? It crashed in on itself, the force behind the water probably matched some of the weaker water jutsu out there.

But Sasuke held his hand out, as if to say "just wait and see." and low and behold, a minute turned to two, to five and suddenly the water slowed down.

"How.. did you do that?"

"Clan secret" a smug smirk on his lips.

He totally deserved the fist on his shoulder. It was the first time I forgot about the tension that had slowly been building in my stomach since the moment I entered the district.

We walked into the river, it was knee-deep. So, it was more a stream then a river then. I unsealed the lanterns one by one. And he through some elemental manipulation lit the candles on fire.

It was quiet as he watched each of them go deep into the cave, until the lights were no longer visible.

"Do you think they're at peace?" I asked. It was an unfair question, because I didn't think they were, murdered, however quickly or efficiently… It had still been gruesome. And I knew that after life, came another.

"That's why we did this… So they could find their peace. Their place in heaven." In the soft light of my LED seal it wasn't hard to pretend it was Itachi instead of Sasuke. Did he think the same thing? Did he also light candles for the ones he had killed?

"You alright Shikako?" Sasuke asked, he had gotten closer and the resemblance to Itachi had dispersed like a bad genjutsu.

I nodded and said I was. I'd never tell him the truth. It was bad enough he had to hate his brother for his lies… Selfishly I couldn't add to that.

We walked back, all the way up. It was quiet.

Until our paths split and Sasuke gave me the softest smile, one that actually reached his eyes and lit his face up. "Thanks, you know. For being here, being a friend. I know you get it. Not many people do."

I smiled back just as earnestly, while it felt like the cold hand of betrayal and guilt clutched my heart so tight it skipped a beat. "Yeah, I guess I do. See you tomorrow!"

If I lingered on his leaving form a little too long, it was penance.

As I slept that night and closed my eyes... I realized; just like the Uchiha district I had high walls that kept my secrets and I played that night over and over and over again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Awaiting pain**

It started as a normal day.

Shikako woke up as her door creaked open. She was face down in an unfinished sealing scroll. "Goo morning." Kino said in greeting. His arms outstretched ready to be picked up.

"Good morning to you to, little warrior."

She carried him to the living room as his fingers tried to untangle her braid. "Good morning mom."

Ah there he is." Yoshino smiled back, raising a cup of coffee. "Want one too?"

"Ah, yes please." She put Kino in his heightened chair.

Yoshino poured another cup. And as she gave it eyed her strangely. "You know, you got a-" She pointed at her left cheek. "there."

Shikako put her coffee on the table and with a twitch of her fingers, seemingly out of nowhere, procured a handmirror.

"Fell asleep studying again?"

The handmirror disappeared as impossibly as it appeared, in it's place now a handkerchief, that wiped the ink away. "I am working on a rotating shield, and he keeps finding irregularities in it. I think it's a distribution of chakra problem, but I can't find the source."

Yoshino nodded. "He?"

"Neji. Hyuuga. He was bragging about his Kaiten, and then Kiba started betting I could make a seal that could do the same thing without the drawbacks. I'm still not sure how he got me to do it… I'm pretty sure Akamaru has hypnotizing eyes."

"Ah, Kiba huh. You know his mother-" Yoshino started.

"No, mom. Please don't start too. He's just a friend." Shikako rolled her eyes. Kino was playing with his cut up apple, stacking it like a tower. Changing the topic Shikako asked about her moms day.

"Actually got an early shift, Inoue changed hers with mine. So, if you don't mind dropping Kino at Sasuke's? I'd ask Shikamaru but he didn't come home last night."

"Sure mom. No problem, actually have to go by Sasuke's anyway. He owes me a missionreport. And you know Shikamaru is probably crashing at Tenten's place. I swear you, they are back together again, they just don't know it yet."

Yoshino put on her uniform. "Good cop or bad cop today?"

"Administration today. Have to file the paperwork for last night's arrests. Anyway, I'll be picking Kino up at twelve, got to go now." And she was out of the door. Her coffee standing untouched on the table.

"Aren't you lucky Kino. Spending the morning with Uncle Sasuke."

An hour later Shikako and Kino were both bathed, clothed and knocking on Sasuke's door. He opened the door, his hair messy like a birds nest. His eyes with heavy dark circles under them. "Morning." He greeted.

"Kino here is all kinds of excited. Didn't even finish him breakfast, something about waffles and whipped cream?" Shikako laughed as Kino tackled Sasuke into a hug.

Sasuke feigned being hurt. "Kino, you told them our secret?" Sasuke whispered something in Kino's ear and the boy let out an excited yelp and ran off into the hallway. "I've got your mission report."

Shikako followed Sasuke inside. "Still not sleeping?"

Sasuke's shoulders went up and down. "Still haven't heard anything from Naruto?"

"Not a word. I don't know if that's good or bad. Shikamaru is still working on the encrypted message, Tsunade has made it a priority." She took the filled out forms Sasuke gave her,

"Your father still under audit?"

Shikako felt heat rising to her face. It still made her impossibly angry. "Danzo was a complicated mess. And dad worked closely with him, and that horrible woman seems to follow him everywhere. Yesterday she followed him all the way home."

"But no signs?" he asked carefully.

She shook her head. "No, I think he got off clean. But Ibiki is on a warpath and won't let any stone unturned. Just… I am happy you're still here, you know?" It was a fragile truth. She almost whispered it.

Sasuke stayed quiet for a while. "When will Yoshino pick him up?"

"Around twelve?" Shikako stashed the papers in hammerspace. "Just make sure not to stuff him with too much sugar, ok? He's hyperactive enough as it is, there are already rumours he's not an actual Nara. We don't need to add to them, ok?"

"I promise nothing." Sasuke smiled coyly.

It was on her walk to the Hokage's building that her normal day changed into one she had dreaded for years.

Peins' invasion.

It started with a massive explosion that came out of nowhere, the entire street changed in the blink of an eye. Civilians were thrown around by an unseen force, like puppets on a string.

It was all around her. Chakra flared up, died down, a fireball the size of a small building roared into the sky. Paper rushed through the street, like a river flowing to the sea.

The stone of Gelel had already reacted to her call and she was now a shadow shielding the civilians she could see from the debris flying around.

Great plumes of smoke rose like geysers from the ground.

And in all that chaos her first thought was Kino. But he was safe with Sasuke.

She had prepared for this day, endlessly so. But now that it was here she wasn't sure if she could go through with her plan. People needed help.

Two streets from where her form had created a dome to keep people save she felt one of Peins bodies fighting two others. She placed two barrier seals, protecting the street. And regained her normal form.

"Help me! Help me!" a man cried out, his leg was pierced through by a splintered wooden beam.

"Get out of there." A woman screamed at her children, the rooftop of her house had been blown away, her daughters standing in their pj's, unable to get away.

All around her people were in ned of help.

And she was the only shinobi here.

But in the other street her comrades were fighting an enemy they had no chance of defeating and thus were facing certain doom.

It was a tough choice, but it had been made months ago.

Shikako turned back into shadows. She was connecting with nature. Using it's vast resources to strengthen herself. And while the world around her shook and trembled under the might of Pein she stood still.

Her barriers had both failed by the time she got out of her meditation. "Sage mode, activated."

A Pein twice her size smashed into her, or through her rather. "Where is Uzumaki Naruto" it asked.

Shikako ignored him, he was her enemy, sure. But this was not the battleground she had chosen to fight on.

He charged at her again, this time his hands outstretched. But Shikako jumped up, and almost instantly reappeared in the center of the village, the exact middle which she had divined months prior to this moment. At her arrival the ground shook.

She let the shadows fall from her form. And her hands connected with the earth beneath her. Thick ink lines spread from her fingers, and rushed all over Konoha. She had accounted for everyone and everything. Every building, every tree, every fountain and statue, every new born child and mother, every shinobi and living creature within her sage mode chakra sensing power. Everything and everyone seemed to be wrapped in her seal. "Sealing Art: Gone with the wind".

And with a mighty pull on her chakra everything within the walls of Konoha vanished into smoke. The combination of six months of continuous work.

She was Konoha's latest Seal Expert. And her strength was not just raw power. But time and knowledge. That made it less useful in battle where you so rarely had time, but sometimes. Sometimes it was perfect.

And this combination of a stasis and storage seal had been worked on for months.

As the smoke cleared all that was left was barren ground. Six bodies of Pein, Konan and her. Everyone else was safe.

"You can't ambush someone when they know you're coming." Shikako said her glowing eyes focusing on her opponents, projecting her voice. "And I've known for years."


	4. Chapter 4

What happens when your shadow self is only held together by a flimsy genjutsu layer?

**The shadow of goodbye**

It wasn't a farewell, not really. But Sasuke had send an invitation to everyone we knew. Music was echoing through the room, and Kino was dancing with Temari- he had just gone through another growth spurt and was a good head taller than his sister in law.

Gaara was talking with Haku, both their faces looked serious, Shikako couldn't overhear their mumbling, because Naruto and Konohamaru were chatting ten miles a minute beside her.

She smiled, this was how she would like to remember them. Shikamaru held her hand with his shadow, not quite sqeezing, but firm. Despite the party-atmosphere his face was tense.

"You know." Shikako started. "It's not like I'll be gone."

Shikamaru swallowed... "it won't be the same."

She nodded. It wouldn't be. "Just consider it a long mission."

Ino walked up to them and put her arm around Shikamaru. "No sad faces!" She exclaimed. "Or i'll get Sai to practice on his joke-telling."

Shikamaru squirmed out of her grip, never letting go of my hand. "Troublesome woman." He smirked.

They started talking, and I tried to listen but i found my attention was waning, it was almost time.

The song of Gelel was getting louder again, and i caught myself humming along to it.

Shikamaru, Sasuke and Naruto had gathered around me, and Ino was caressing my jawline. "Ah, you're back."

Slowly, but gently I nodded. "It's time." The words sounded truer now than before.

I didn't dare look at their face, so instead I looked at the clock. Its ticking no longer bothered me.

Mom and Dad stood beside me, lifting me up from the chair i had found myself in. And the party had gone quiet.

I could sense everyone I cared about, and their Chakra was so warm. And their life energy so vibrant.

And mom and dad helped me stand up, and Naruto stood in front of me.

I mouthed three words, not sure if i actually said them.

But the song of Gelel was louder than ever before. And the thin layer around my shadow form slowly started giving in, and I felt myself falling, and though i was increddibly weak, an enormous strength returned as I stopped fighting what felt natural.

My shadow state was now all i had, and I stood in the shadow of the Shadow of fire.

And Naruto would forever be safe, his shadow would defend him fiercely. And when he passed the hat on to the next Hokage so did that defense.

I would forever be in service of the village.


	5. Chapter 5

**Moments to hold deer**

Deer hold the souls of those we lost, visiting graves to say goodbye

It was late in the year, Fall almost welcomed winter.

The trees were barren, the wind was cold. The sky was grey and Shikamaru felt old.

Old in his bones, and stiff all over.

The mission had gone wrong. And he was left one sibling less.

He was alone at the grave his family had so lovingly decorated with flowers.

But flowers for a dead person... was too little too late.

Shikamaru wanted to watch the clouds. But what was cloudwatching if the entire sky was filled with them. There was nothing to see, there was nothing that could hold his eye.

He leaned against the gravestone. his hand playing with a Forget-me-not he had plucked from the vase Ino had set.

He wanted to cry. Wanted to feel sad. But he was empty. There was a cold inside, that had taken hold of him.

Not unlike the black.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes into hours. And just as light turned into dark, the softest footsteps came closer, and closer.

"Hi there Kino." Shikamaru whispered to the deer, he'd give anything to just hold his little brother one more time. "Visiting your grave so soon?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Caught unaware**

Hoji walked through the doors, showing his ID-card to Mosumo the guard. "Good morning." The guard narrowed his eyes, reading the small letters on the ID-card.

" G'Morn." He mumbled back.

Despite having worked for a little more than twenty years in the T&I department he still got a little uneasy when he showed his ID. "Well, aren't you just a ray of sunlight."

"Get to walking asshole." Mosumo barked back.

Hoji did just that. Making his way to his superiors' office. He had overheard that a bunch of Leaf-nin had been brought in yesterday. Leaf-nin had killed his brother just fifteen years ago, the yellow flash. Hoji found himself grinding his teeth. He calmed the moment he did. It wouldn't do to show the boss anything other than perfect behaviour.

He passed ten doors to reach the end of the hallway. The boss was the only who's door had a red light above it. Which right now was turned off, meaning he wasn't busy.

"Ah, Hoji-san. Good, you're here." The boss was a small man. his head just a few strands of hair away from being bald. Which he compensated for with thick eyebrows and a moustache even the Tsuchikage couldn't match.

"Good morning." He made a small bow, to show his respect. Kinoku Hamu had been the boss of T&I for over six years now, following his predecessor Nanu Yori, the woman whom had hired Hoji when he had been a fresh faced chuunin.

Kinoku picked a folder out of his drawer. "We got some new cases. This one will be yours."

Hoji took the folder almost greedily. It was green, meaning the contents of it regarded a Konoha ninja. He opened the folderand gave it a quick once over, just the Essentials. Name, age, rank, POC and JSIB. "Just a girl?" Hoji sighed, little girls were too easy to break.

The boss shook his head. "Not just a girl."

He felt his eyebrows come together as he frowned. "How do you mean?"

"Check the last page."

The last page was a picture. Black and white. Of a crater the size of a small village. "What does this mean?"

"The girl did that with just the touch of her hand. A diversion tactic she called it."

hoji flipped the pages back to the first page. And checked the name again. Shikako Nara. Since when did Nara shinobi do that?

* * *

Looking through the one way mirror the girl didn't look all that threatening. She looked tired. She was stripped of her usual clothing and wearing the standard inmate uniform, green overalls. Her hands chained to the table. Her feet chained to the floor. Her chakra sealed by steel.

"How'd they catch her?" Hoji opened the folder again, and started underlining the things he might be able to use. Kinoku raised his shoulders in a shrug high enough for his shoulder pads to touch his earlobes. "My guess, she let herself be captured to give her team time to get away."

"She was part of a team huh. Ah yes. A blonde boy and the last Uchiha." Hoji licked his lips. That was usefull.

Before Hoji, under the one way mirror, hang a panel. With several colored buttons, one to control the lights. One to tighten the chains. One to activate electrical currents through the chair. A slider to control the temperature in the room and a good dozen more that Hoji hadn't been allowed to use since the last war.

Hoji pushed the button on the far right of the panel. And the door to the chamber opened with a buzzing sound. Slowly he made his way to the seat in front of the girl. She was following his movements with keen eyes. Interesting, no signs of lessened awareness due to the sealing of chakra.

"Good morning, Shikako Nara. I am Hoji. For the foreseeable future I will be the one who is either your best friend, or your worst enemy. If you cooperate, you'll be treated fairly. If you don't... you'll wish you had." He put the folder down on the table so she could see her own bingo book page, crossing his arms and leaning backwards into his chair. "Do you understand?"

The girl straightened herself, the chakra dampening chains clinking in movement. "I understand." Her voice was soft, and surprisingly high; but strong and full of conviction. Nothing he hadn't broken before. "We know you were part of a three man team, what was your mission objective."

She didn't say anything.

"We have your team. Eventually one of you will talk."

There was a flash of surprise on her face, gone as quickly as it had come. But still, she remained quiet.

"If you tell us now, you can save them from a lot of pain." Yes, girls always cared too much about their friends. Bleeding hearts. Shoji got up, picking up the file again. "I wonder, how long it will be before your brother forgets about you, what's his name? Shika… I have it in here somewhere." He slowly turned the pages. "Ah Shikamaru."

Her hands balled into fists and he heard her skin pop as her nails dug deep, the scent of blood didn't escape him. Of course, family. How was Konoha still a village with such sentimental fools in their ranks? This was almost too easy. He started pacing behind her.

"You know what. You're a smart girl. I'm going to your blonde friend, unless there's something you want to tell me first." She remained quiet. Her hands no longer balled into fists but instead flat on the table. Her hands were shaking, smearing blood on the table and even getting some on her chains. "Pity. I wonder how many fingers I need to chop off and feed you before you start telling me. How about one for every hour you sit here all quiet. Yes, that sounds about right."

Hoji walked out of the chamber after giving Kinoku a nod to open the door. The buzzing sound rang through the room as he left her alone. He'd give her two hours at most. "She's too easy boss." He said as the door fell into its lock behind him.

Did Hoji realize that Shikako needed just a smidge of blood to draw in chakra to create sealing seal for the chains?

_No_.

Did he ever find out?

_Yes_, four weeks later he woke up in a hospital bed. His fingers were missing. One for every hour she had been captured.


	7. Chapter 7

**Packing lightly**

Naruto had gathered her and Sasuke. He was suspiciously calm about their first mission since his return.

She had expected him to bounce around, talking a mile a minute. Dragging her through Konoha's street to the Hokage's tower.

But it was quite the opposite. He had knocked on her door, Sasuke standing quietly behind him.

"Mission?" She had asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... pack for three weeks worth."

Shikako raised her arm and tapped the seals on it. "Done."

Naruto turned around and walked. She had exchanged looks with sasuke, but he shrugged. Clearly, whatever was going on, Sasuke didn't know either.

Maybe he hadn't slept well? It was early... but that wouldn't be enough to slow Naruto down like this. Had he changed so much over the last three years? Or perhaps she held the memory of the boy he used to be too firmly, everyone changed. And naruto hadn't only been a happy kid, he'd had his serious moments too.

Few and far between. Sure. But they were there.

Tsunade welcomed them in her office with tired eyes. Had she spent the entire night working?

"Good morning, Tsunade-sama." Shikako had somehow ended up in the middle of their three person party. "We were summoned?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes, I'm assuming Naruto has kept his silence?" Naruto nodded so Tsunade continued. "Earlier this week we recieved intel from one of our deep undercovers. After a thorough authentication-examination of the facts presented in this intel, our T&I has come to the conclusion-" Tsunade inhaled sharply "that there is reason to believe a weapon of mass destruction has been hidden in the islands of Whirpool."

Shikako spared a glance to look at Naruto. He had known about this? And whirpool, the home of his ancesters. Uzu, Uzumaki. No wonder Naruto was on edge, he was going to go on a mission that would allow him to find his roots.

"Your mission is to find this weapon and safely confiscate and bring it back to Konoha. If this proves impossible or too high-risk, you are to copy and destroy it."

Four days later we found ourselves on a boat, we were dressed in civilian clothing. The mission had been labeled A-rank. To Shikako it made sense Tsunade had send team seven.

She was one of the most knowledgeable sealing experts in the village. Sasuke had his Sharingan, and naruto, well he was an Island Native, if one or two generations removed.

"So, going to Uzu huh?" She said, sitting down next to Naruto.

The boat was rocking in the waves. Up and down. Left and right. Naruto was dealing with it way better than i was. Somethings time changed, others, not so much.

Naruto fixed his gaze on the setting sun. "Yeah... Ero-sensei and I met with this old guy, and he told us about it."

"Old guy?"

"Not supposed to say his name. It's secret and all." Naruto's feet dangled over the edge of the ship. They swayed, in sharp contrast with the rest of him which sat still as a rock. Unmoving.

A wave clashed onto the steel hull and water splashed upwards, our feet now wet. "Are you worried about what we'll find?"

Naruto's face contorted, scrunching together as if he was thinking about a riddle. I would've giggled, if the conversation had been a serious one.

"I'm not worried about that. It's..."

Shikako nodded and finished his thoughts for him. "You're worried we'll find nothing."

We arrived two days later to an island that looked... not special at all. It was small, not even the Uchiha district would fit here. From what Shikako could sense the island held little to no life.

She looked at Sasuke, who looked at her and shrugged. "Euhm, captain." Shikako trailed a hand through her hair, it was curly and not staying in place -at all- thank you ocean.

"What is it kiddo?" The captain was drunk, his words slurred together as if he had two tongues.

Sasuke stepped forward "Captain, are you sure this is 'This' is the whirlpool island?"

The captain sqeeuzed his eyes and stroke the stubble on his chin. "Yeah, this boat doesn't go there."

Shikako felt anger rising, before she stomped it down. Sure they had paid for a trip to the whirlpool islands, and sure this man had said no problem, and sure the trip had been horrible, but anger wouldn't help her now.

"Then where are we?" Naruto asked after landing a jump from the crows nest.

The captain swirled around and pointed to a small wooden sign nailed to a tree 60 feet inland. The sign was weathered and chipped and hardly readable.

So of course Sasuke could read it. "Whirlpool haven?"

"Closest I can get you youngsters to the Islands. After this point, the ocean is no trustworthy companion." The captain turned around again, almost tripped over his left foot and staggered to his cabin. Ignoring team seven as they asked him more questions.

"Dammit, old man." Naruto raised his fist as the man disapeared into his cabin. "Now what do we do?"

Sasuke gave me a look.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Do you still have it?" Sasuke was purposefully being vague, knowing it would anoy Naruto.

Shikako nodded.

"Have what?" Naruto got between Shikako and Sasuke. "What are you talking about?"

"I sealed away a boat during our previous mission." Shikako tapped her hammerspace seal.

"Ah, awesome. But if this ship isn't able to get through the whirlpools... how would your little boat manage it?"

Sasuke grinned openly, and I shrugged. "We'll have to make do."

And so they collected their belongings, robbed the kitchen of their last bit of soup and water walked to the island.

They travelled to the other side of the island, which didn't take long. But shikako was happy to feel the earth beneath her feet again. There they water walked a fair distance from the beach and Shikako unsealed the boat.

"What the hell!" Naruto yelped, as a ship the size of four Gamabunta's appeared out of nowhere.

Shikako laughed awkwardly. "We're gonna need some of your clones to help steer this thing Naruto."


	8. Chapter 8

**Seeing green**

It was a bright Sunny day, the tuffs of white in the sky moved west, following the winds. The Hashirama trees showed the first signs of spring, awakening from their cold slumber.

Ino and Shikako sat on one of the bigger branches, their feet swinging high above the ground. It had been a while since they'd been able to just, sit. "So..." Shikako started. It had been so long since they'd been alone like this, just the two of them. They could talk everything they wanted. "Yeah..." Ino said back.

So why weren't they chatting eachothers ears off?

Ino shifted uncomfortably "Um, Kako... You spar with Lee a lot don't you?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Not more than anyone else. He's always bugging Sasuke though. Why?"

Ino's eyes took on a familiar glint and her lips curled into a slight grin. "Well... Have you seen him recently? He's filling out that spandex in a tasty way..."

Shikako blinked for a second before exactly what her friend was implying sunk in. "Ino!"

Ino let out a boysterous laugh. "Come on, don't act like you haven't been looking."

But she hadn't been looking. She had explicitly been not-looking! And she was not going to get bullied into this kind of talk, and the best way to get out of this was to take the offense. "No I haven't, but you have!"

Ino's lips stretched into a look similar to a cat the got the cream. "Of course I have, I'm not blind." She tilted her head slightly in thought. "Yeah... Shame about the eyebrows and the colours though."

Shikako gaped at her. "Ino... Why... I was happy damn it!" Then she let out a laugh and grinned back at her friend. Two could play it that way... "Well... Eyebrows can be plucked..." Shikako raised her own suggestively. "Should I start clearing my schedule for the wedding?"

Ino snorted and nearly rolled off the branch. "Yeah definitely. As soon as Shikamaru dumps Tenten for Temari."

Shikako choked briefly before the two friends descended into giggles. "I can see that happening..." Shikako managed.

"Not any time soon..."

"Oi Kako!" Shikamaru's voice came from the direction of the house, "We've got a mission!"

"Speaking of the devil..." Shikako sighed. "See you when I get back?" "Sure thing. Good luck out there."


	9. Chapter 9

**Two faced**

Shikako found Ino sitting at a table in the park. It was a cloudy day, but sometimes the sun peeked through. Like it did right now. The sun made Ino's blonde hair shine with a golden hue.

"Hey there." Ino looked up, the pen she was holding switched hands as she waved at Shikako.

With the wind in her back Shikako made her way to the bench Ino was sitting on. "What're you writing?"

Ino lifted her shoulders. "Nothing special, really."

Shikako gave her a look.

"It's just.. little poems. Something to help to take it day by day."

"Oh." Shikako felt herself blush. "Can I see?"

Ino non-commitedly pulled her arms out of the way so Shikako could grab the leatherbound notebook.

The pages were small, with only twelve lines each page. Shikako carefully went through the pages Ino had filled. There were poems, and sketches of flowers in the corners. From the first to last page the handwriting got more rounded and less- Shikako swallowed as she realized, less Orochimaru-like. The last page was a drawing of the sun rising through Hashirama trees and a poem:

**you walked past me the other day**

**and treated me like a stranger**

**while our faces are the same**

**your eyes see mine as danger**

**oh girl in the mirror**

**how I wish that you could see**

**that I keep us safe as possible**

**that I always try to be 'just me'**


	10. Chapter 10

**The meaning of destruction in a void**

In the land of Fire, beyond the the mountains, just past the forest. was an open field once known for the white flowers that bloomed only there.

It had been known as the White fields of Fire.

Today those fields were barren.

Except for the hordes of shinobi that ferociously attacked one another. There was a distinct difference between the two opposing forces. One dressed in blue and white. The other in blue and green.

Two opposing forces that left the battlefield they held their skirmish on to be destroyed.

The worst offender? "Touch blast." It was Nara Shikako, she was in the midst of the field. Dealing out death and destruction as if she was throwing rice on a newly married couple.

Thirty feet away from Shikako a dual-sword wielding shinobi lost his head. And another shinobi let out a gut-wrenching cry. One death was always followed by someone seeking revenge.

And so a tall woman, with skin that seemed to be made of stone rushed forward. She punched her way through a mud wall. She jumped Naruto who had charged at her with a rasengan. And then she fell to Sasuke's right hand, covered in electricity.

While Sasuke pulled out his hand he wasn't able to see the ten kunai aimed at his his back.

But from his shadow ten hand-like things sprouted, and caught the throwing weapons. And returned them to their rightful owner.

They didn't connect. but in his evasion the cloud-nin was forced into Neji's field of divination. To say his death was quick, would be to say the sun was hot.

Things were going well. Too well.

A loud horn made the battlefield tremble. And all cloud shinobi retreated. Smoke bombs obscuring them from vision. A few Hyuuga went after them, but were called back by their superiors.

And then the unimaginable happened.

First a man. Outlined by the smoke, hardly visible to the naked eye. He walked, slowly. And then, he grew with every step. Sprouting tentacles as he did. And then when he grew taller than even the smoke, he grew horns and a massive downpour of chakra weighed everyone down.

Army killer.

Tailed beast.

The unbridled power of living sacrifice.

It's power was massive, it's reach far beyond that of a normal shinobi.

But the expected slaughter didn't commence.

His tails struck nothing he could grab onto.

His jutsu seemed to pass right through the army he was meant to destroy.

And then, when he fired a tailed beast bomb, the pinnacle of all destructive jutsu known to man. It disappeared as if it went down the drain.

It was that day Team 7 became known as the one team army. Capable of stopping even the strongest of Bijuu.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thinking of hats and the people that wear them**

Being Hokage. It was a calling more than a job. It meant being more than your own person. You were public domain.

One day she had been alone. No responsibilities other than the ones she ran away from.

One day she was giving in to her urges, anything to keep old fears at bay.

One day she met a blonde boy, who called out to her.

And she heard him. He reached the depths she had made her home and thrown her a liferope.

And she had climbed, answered his call.

"Tsunade-sama! I did it!" And now she had even taken on a new student. One who was standing next to what used to be a boulder. She stood proud, her arms perfectly stretched. No sign of injury to the naked eye.

She nodded, proudly. "Come here."

And her student did. Her hand so willingly given. Tsunade took it in her own and let their chakra's connect.

She had spent years using that same trust Sakura had in her for personal gain. To stroke her ID, make it able to run away from her fears. Her past. Oh she had healed the richest lords. But the poor woman who had been mugged she had walked past in a drunken stupor.

But now she was Hokage. And her student had performed the technique perfectly, 100% force without any of the damage to her own hand. The skin was unblemished, tissue untouched, bones in pristine state. "You've mastered this part of the technique."

She disconnected their chakras just late enough to feel the jubilee from Sakura.

She'd grown strong. "Thank you sensei." But the fire in her eyes was far from burning out. "I wish to learn more, grow even stronger."

One day she would have to pass the hat to someone else.

For the longest time she had only considered Naruto. His passion, his strength his ability to see the best in people. Sure he would be able to lead Konoha into an era of peace.

But her own student. She couldn't deny her capabilities. She was smart. And thanks to her training, she was getting stronger, faster than she had herself. By the time the hat would go to someone else, Sakura could've surpassed her teacher. She was well known, and not a day went by the girl didn't do her best…

But in her generation there were more people.

There was Sasuke Uchiha. Fierce, smart, strong and a charisma that made people want him to lead. Perhaps he could take the hat. The first Uchiha to do so. With him ruling Konoha the village would unite under one leader. And other villages wouldn't be able to deny his power. The last chuunin exams had proven that. But did he have the vision to lead Konoha into the future? Or would he hold on to the relics of the past?

She'd know before he'd turn jounin.

But he wasn't the only other contender. Shikako Nara was intelligent, and inventive and her decisefulness would make her a great leader. And she had power to spare, power that could bind a Bijuu. Power that had rivaled the Kazekage. If she were to lead Konoha was sure to benefit. Perhaps even advance beyond what a village was thought off to be right now. But perhaps she had been broken one too many times already. But she was also vengefull. She would not allow anyone under her care to be hurt. And when you were Hokage, everyone in the village was under your protection.

Tsunade shivered.

"Sensei?" Sakura looked at her. And looking back she saw just a young girl.

The hat wouldn't be passed on for a while. She had time to test the next generation.

"You've done well, Sakura. You can take the rest of the day off."


	12. Chapter 12

**Shikako waits**

The phone rang for the first time since she bought it three months ago.

"Someone's calling!" She heard Steven, her assistant, yell excitedly.

"Well, pick it up, that's what I pay you for!" She felt butterflies in her belly, there weren't many people who called Shinobi-ologists these days.

Most relics were already on display in museum, or in private collections.

"Dr. Susan Richardson is busy at the moment, can I take a message?"

Steven wrote down whatever the caller said, hummed and nodded. "Who can I say called? Terry Grand from the Smithesonian, New York? Thank you, we will contact you as soon as possible." Het put down the phone, and jumped up.

"Look at this!" He waved the notepad around. "You! Have a job!"

Three days later she walked into the Smithsonian. Behind the reception desk sat one man and one woman. Both looked stiff and boring. The woman hailed her "good morning, welcome to the Smithsonian. You must be Doctor Richardson."

"What gave me away?" She shook the woman's hand.

"My name is Felicia Suton, I was asked by the head supervisor to welcome you. The… Object is kept in the basement. Follow me."

The basement was two floors down. And unlike the rest of the research museum, there were guards everywhere. Men and women whose chakra she could actually feel. One man even had the white eyes, A Hyuuga!

It was unnerving.

It was exciting!

Felicia placed her hand on a tablet, it emitted a soft green light and then a door opened in front of her. One that hadn't been there before. What was behind it rolled out in waves. There was darkness and smoke, cold smoke. Until the lights inside the room went on, and she could see a large block of ice on a round pedestal.

Felicia walked in first, and Susan soon followed.

"It has been preserved in ice?" Susan walked

"She has." Felicia answered softly. "Frozen in time, in ever-ice."

"Interesting. She's perfectly preserved." Susan got as close to the ice as she could. Ever-ice was cold, so cold it actually cooled the entire room. "Look at those markings, it looks like Village-era sealing. And that slip of paper on her forehead? I'm sure it's some sort of stasis-tag."

The frozen body was of a girl, no older than seventeen, probably younger. Her hair was tied in a braid. She wore a forehead protector with the word shinobi engraved in it.

Which meant she was probably caught in the ice before the last shinobi war. And her arms, covered in markings. Seals, but none she recognized. Probably of the girls own design. A seal master?

She walked around the ice block. It was drawing in chakra, she could feel it. But she could also feel the woman inside. "She's alive?" In shock she looked at Felicia. "She's alive!"

"And only a descendant of the old Ice-bloods can free her." Felicia voice was low. "Your father was a Richardson, but your mother was Yuki, was she not? Tell me, does the ever-ice call to you?"

Susan shivered. Because it did. "This is far outside of my skill level. I can cool a drink, this kind of mastery hasn't been seen since-"

"Since the world tree. I know." Felicia combed her hair with her hand. And for the first time Susan noticed her hair was almost silver, like moonlight. "I've studied her, for years. And I believe the one way to free her of her frozen cage… is with your blood."

Susan felt her mouth dry instantly. "My blood?"

"Not much… A few drops should do." Felicia took a syringe from an inner pocket in her jacket. "Want to try?"


	13. Chapter 13

**No one mourns the wicked**

As a child Sai lives in the Root bunkers. He doesn't get to go outside often. But yesterday they'd been allowed to train in the forest, and he'd found a white lily.

He'd plucked it, secretly, and hid it in his kunai holster.

Now his desk is littered with drawings of the flower. But the best one he had stuck to the back of his door. No one would see it there, just like no one had seen him pick or bring it in. It would be his, and his alone.

There was a knock on his door, and one of the caregivers walked in only a second later.

"Your weapons are not for frivolous things like drawing flowers, child."

Sai nodded. He understood.

The caregiver grabbed the stack of paper Sai had used to practice his drawing on. Then turned around. There was a moment in which Sai was sure she had missed the drawing he had stuck on the door.

But that one was torn off without a word.

The door slammed close when she left.

And Sai was left with an empty room again.

Sai remembers live from before he was enrolled in the Root program. He remembers the heavy smell of perfume a woman shrouded herself in. He remembers a tall man with dark flat hair and wrinkles around his eye, he remembers the woman teasing the man about them.

He had been young, too young to remember much else.

But he remembered the first time he saw Danzo.

The woman had hugged him, had welcomed him so warmly into their home. Had called him father, and had laughed at a joke Danzo had made.

Danzo didn't joke much anymore.

And Sai had never called him grandfather.

But Danzo had seen Sai, called him strong. And two days later he never saw his mother again.

It would be sad, he could rationally look at his past and label it so. But he didn't feel sad.

He didn't much feel anything, to be honest. Sai wasn't sure why. But there was a distinct difference in his life before Root, and after.

It was years later. And much had happened. He had made friends, had laughed with them and felt joy. He had fought beside them, and had cared for them. He had hurt.

And Danzo had died.

"You're visiting a grave?" Ino asked.

Sai nodded. It was custom to lay flowers at someone's grave, he'd learned that. Had done it before too.

"Ok, I'll make you a bouquet." Ino said carefully, and she walked around the shop, picking flowers and explaining what they meant. "So, there's white orchids, they stand for beauty and elegance. There's white lilies, which stand for innocence to be returned after death, and white tullips for forgiveness." She bound the flowers together with a yellow bow and put them on the counter.

"Looks good doesn't it?"

Sai nodded.

Danzo's grave was just like the man himself. It was a granite slab, with just a few words engraved. There were some flowers on the ground in front of it.

Sai stood there and carefully laid the flowers on top of the stone slab.

To his surprise there weren't much feelings attached to the small ritual. Normal people cried at gravestones.

Sai was about to turn when his hand reached for the flowers. And took a white lily out of the bouquet.

Innocence returned… Sai smiled and put the lily in his kunai holster, for everyone to see.


	14. Chapter 14

**Face to face**

I woke up to the sight of my own face.

Sure, it looked older, and weathered, but it was my face. "I don't think I'm dreaming."

The face agreed, shaking. I took in more of the other me. I was naked, except for the thick black lines that spiraled from my older body's chest, that seemed to wrap around her skin like bandages, all the to me. Her hair was shorter than mine was, and grey. My eyes drifted down and I took in the scar that seperated her left leg from the rest of her body.

"I got that from fighting Madara. Turns out our shadow state doesn't heal wounds inflicted by legendary swords of chakra." Her voice was the same as mine. So I instantly noticed the hint of 'setting someone at ease by casual mention of trivia'.

I filed that information somewhere in the back of my mind. "Got it."

"You're probably wondering why we are here?"

"You mean, I might wonder why Future-me has created a seal so she can replace past-you, or present-me..?" She didn't look shocked, more impressed.

She laughed. "I forgot how eager I used to be."

"Well, if you're older-me, than you should know I already read the book of Gelel front to back. This pattern-" I said tracing the seal on the ground, "is kind of a give-away."

"I'm here to keep us from wrecking the future. In a year time you'll make a mistake that will end up killing a lot of people you love. I am here to keep us from doing that."

I nodded, I figured future-me wouldn't come back in time and plan on replacing me because she forgot to turn off the stove. "Who?" I bit out.

"Dad... Sensei... Mom..." She counted with her fingers, naming names as she dropped each one. when she reached her left hand pinky she swallowed. "Our baby..."

I swallowed too, as I felt my heart beating in my throat. "We get a baby?"

She nodded. "A boy."

I didn't think I was the kind of person to get a child... I wasn't the kind of person to get a relationship, It made me look at Future-me in a whole new way. She was so different.

"If you know about the seal, than you know I need your consent. Freely given."

"I refuse." I said the words and watch them break her heart. But her resolve didn't break so easily.

"Decline, and you'll end up right here in twenty years, asking yourself this very question. And it's not the deaths that hurt the most. It's the crippled..." She looked away.

"But I don't want to die for mistakes I haven't made yet."

"It's not dying... not really. It's more like taking the backseat." We both knew that was at best a halftruth.

We both got quiet after that. "Perhaps...Perhaps you could just tell me?"


End file.
